A sumptuous treat

Bon Voyage is about spies and romance: your maiden aunt will love it. Opening during the Second World War with the Nazis thudding into Paris, it stars Isabelle Adjani as a famous actress who can make anyone dance to her tune and spins from man to man as her mood dictates.

Gèrard Depardieu is her new politician boyfriend who comes up against a handsome writer accused of murder (Grègori DerangËre) and threatening to ruin his reputation.

There is also a double-agent posing as a concerned American (Peter Coyote); a scientist (Jean-Marc Stehlè) with a mysterious new discovery that might change the direction of the war; and his lovely young assistant (Virginie Ledoyen) who is itching to rip off her dowdy spectacles.

This genre of all-star comedy-adventure-romance has traditionally gone down well in France and Bon Voyage has a really opulent professionalism, a merry sweep.

Director Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano de Bergerac, Horseman on the Roof) is obviously at home among expensive actors and sets - almost everything in his film chimes.

It's particularly lovely to see Adjani - she so rarely appears on screen these days - even if she is coasting somewhat here. How little she has changed: at almost 50, she could easily pass for 35, but not in a freezedried or Botoxed way. Her skin remains as ideally pale as her hair is ideally dark and lips ideally red - simultaneously classic and modern.

Bon Voyage
Cert: cert12A